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Tuesday, 5 January 2016

La Decimation

Real Madrid were at a veritable zenith of their powers in
2014. They secured a remarkable tenth Champions League crown, went on a record
22 match winning streak in all competitions and, perhaps most astonishingly,
managed to convince the world that Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema are great mates
who love playing with each other.

Fast forward a year and Real are third in La Liga, 2 points
off arch-rivals Barcelona- who have a game in hand. Being 4 points off the top
(possibly 5, if Barca win the game in hand) is pretty much equivalent to
relegation at Real Madrid, and Rafa Benitez’s bags were packed for him when he
reached the team hotel after the 2-2 weekend draw with Gary Neville’s Valencia.

In some quarters, Rafa has garnered sympathy, but sadly those
quarters lie firmly outside Madrid. In truth, it was a harsh dismissal if one
considers the fact that Real won their Champions League group and are still in
contention for the Copa De- err, La Liga title.

By comparison, Manchester United are out of the Champions
League and 3 points off the top 4 and Louis van Gaal is saying it’s been a good
year. Sadly, those lamentations deserve their own article, and will get one
when the time is right.

So, where did this collapse of (relatively) Herculean
proportions come from? Most experts opine that Real Madrid made a mistake by
letting go of Carlo Ancelotti and, in hindsight, you’d have to say they’re
probably right.

Carlo knew how to manage the enormous egos of the biggest and
best players and to get them to at least convincingly pretend that they enjoyed
playing together. And one could say that’s been the biggest and most telling
difference with Madrid this season. There hasn’t been that zest and enthusiasm
to work hard for the team and perform at a high level, like there was with
Ancelotti.

Jamie Carragher destroyed the Madrid front four after the El
Clasico, rightly pointing the accusatory finger for not showing any desire to assist
and Bale (do you see what I’ve done here?) out the hapless two-man midfield
behind them. Casemiro, who had arguably been their best midfield player this
season, was inexplicably left on the bench as Kroos and Modric were decimated
by Iniesta and Co.

But, it’s been more than the odd bad result that’s cast a
depressing, gloomy shadow over one of the world’s footballing super-powers. The
style of play has been extremely erratic- ranging from a thunderous 10-2 win
against Rayo Vallecano, to traditional Rafa Benitez kinds of resolute (I can almost
hear Real fans shouting “boring”) displays.

The style of play wasn’t helped by the fact that Rafa isn’t
the easiest manager to get along with and tends to impose his more pragmatic
style on players who simply do not wish to play that way. It led to tensions
with James, Benzema, Isco, Kroos, Ronaldo and (surprise, surprise) Sergio Ramos,
who often goes flying into midfield leaving gaping holes in what was supposed
to be a “resolute” back-line.

Cristiano Ronaldo is probably the last person you’d expect to
track back and defend, but he used to do it regularly (at least on set plays)
with Ancelotti at the helm. Now, he just floats around waiting for his
team-mates to pick him out or tries to pick up the ball and beat entire
opposition defences himself.

Ancelotti certainly had the support of Madrid’s main man, who
took to social media to offer public support to Carlo just before he was
sacked. Somehow, I don’t think we’ll be seeing a Rafa-Ronnie selfie anytime
this week.

What next, for the world’s richest football club? Well,
Carlo’s taken by Bavaria. Guardiola will never take that job, given his
affiliation to the Blaugrana. Mourinho doesn’t want that job, given his lack of
affiliation to Perez. Jurgen Klopp is at Liverpool (still can’t understand that
one!) and Louis van Gaal has had a great year and will be spending millions to
have another one. Quite simply, Real seem to have run out of managers.

So, they’ve turned in this dark hour to a man who often showed
the light as a player. So does “Zizou” have what it takes to accomplish the
seemingly impossible and please Florentino Perez and that excessively
effervescent dressing-room? Can he show Madrid the path to recapturing former
glory? At the very least, can he get them playing some exciting football?

Only time will provide the answers to these questions. But,
Zidane needn’t fret. He’s received the full public backing of Perez and the
Board which means his job is probably secure for at least another 3 days.

If not, I'll be back on Friday to report that Brendan Rodgers is the new Real Madrid manager.

3 comments:

It' Perez who is the culprit; Since 2003, 11 coaches have been considered for the role. Sacking Carlo was an egoistic and insensible move by Perez. Zizou has got all the support from the fans and is being considered so that Perez is able to save his a**. Despite the fact that Zizou had confirmed a few days earlier that he is not yet ready for the big role. I agree that Zizou has been one of the most influential players in a team game scenario, though as a coach(Real Madrid B) he didn't seem to be a great tactician(off the pitch).Real Madrid has to be extremely disciplined ,the whole squad to turn things around. And if hey don't ,maybe Perez is going to face the music.

While searching for some insights regarding CAT on Quora, I stumbled upon your answer there. And voila, I landed up here.

One of the main reasons that I am leaving a comment (hoping that you'd see this and reply) is because I also want to go along the lines of becoming either a Football journalist (on espnfc/soccernet) or a Football presenter by doing an MBA in India. And that too...preferably/only in IIMs A/B/C.

So...erm, can I pick your brain and get your gyaan regarding my doubts about CAT 2016 and maybe, juuust maaaybe, about other things as well? :D

PS: I am a die hard Arsenal fan. Since 2005 because of Titi. Also, you might have already heard about this guy - Andrew Mangan, but if for some reason you haven't, do czech out his site arseblog.